History WesternAnimation / Coraline

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Wybie's grandmother has only a handful of scenes, and in all but one she's simply yelling from offscreen. However, for decades she's been holding onto the "Little Me" doll that was [[spoiler:the reason her sister went missing. Said doll also was the only way the Other Mother could spy on children so as to feed on them, hence why Wybie's grandmother got frantic on learning that Wybie gave it to Coraline]].

* NerMissGroinAttack: When Mr. Bobinsky jumps off his deck and almost lands on Coraline, his crotch comes within inches of the pair of garden trimmers she has in her hand.

* BawdySong: The "Sirens of the Sea" segment is essentially a "tits vs. ass" song with each "siren" extolling the virtues of said body parts in seducing men. And it's sung by [[FanDisservice half-naked old women]], one of whom has a pair of [[GagBoobs ridiculously massive breasts]]. Coraline's response sums up how the parents must feel when they see this.

* GagBoobs: Ms. Forcible. [[FanDisservice Emphasis on "gag"]].
-->(as Miss Forcible turns, revealing enormous breasts)\\
'''Coraline:''' ''Oh'' my God.

** Overlapping with BookEnds, Coraline's first interaction with her mom has her accusing her of hating dirt [[{{Hypocrisy}} despite writing about gardening for a living]]. [[spoiler: Their last interaction in the movie has the mom admit her admitting to her daughter (and herself) that she was right about her aversion to dirt.]]

* GroinAttack: Narrowly averted when Mr. Bobinsky jumps off his deck and almost lands on Coraline, with his crotch coming within inches of the pair of garden trimmers she has in her hand.

* AdaptationalVillainy: In order to make it more obvious why Coraline abandons her parents so willingly, in the movie both of her parents are more actively neglectful than in the book because of work-induced stress, needing to finish a big project just to make ends meet. Whereas in the book they simply don't pay much attention to her, in the movie her mother is loudly frustrated at Coraline's interruptions, and brushes her off.

** Not many viewers will know [[spoiler:why the ghost children call the other mother "the beldam", and will probably figure it was the name for whatever monster she was]]. Fortunately we have Creator/JohnKeats and Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'', animated by Creator/Lakia in their solo feature debut, and adapted and directed by Creator/HenrySelick (of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' and ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' fame). It was released on February 6, 2009, and was the first StopMotion movie filmed with a 3-D camera (however, the 3-D showings were only in limited locations for a few weeks).

TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'', adapted and directed by Creator/HenrySelick (of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' and ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' fame). It was released on February 6, 2009, and was the first StopMotion movie filmed with a 3-D camera (however, the 3-D showings were only in limited locations for a few weeks).

* AdaptationalVillainy: In order to make it more obvious why Coraline abandons her parents so willingly, in the movie both of her parents are more actively neglectful than in the book. Whereas in the book they simply don't pay much attention to her, in the movie her mother is loudly frustrated at Coraline's interruptions, and coldly brushes her off.

Coraline Jones moves from Pontiac, Michigan with her mother and father to the Pink Palace Apartments, an old house subdivided into three residences, in Ashland, Oregon. With her parents frantically working on a gardening catalog in order to make ends meet, and thus not paying much attention to her, Coraline begins to feel neglected. While exploring the house, she discovers a small door with a brick wall behind it. That night, she is awoken by a mouse in her room, which she chases to the small door. She opens it, but instead of a brick wall, she finds a long, glowing passage, leading to another world.

At the other end, Coraline finds herself in the "Other World", which is inhabited by her "Other Mother" and "Other Father", idealized doubles of her parents (except for the black buttons sewn into their eyes) who pay close attention to Coraline and spoil her with treats. After enjoying a home-cooked meal made by the Other Mother, she spends the night in the Other World and awakens back in her bed in the real world.

Coraline continues to go to the Other World at night, and is entertained by the various delights present, including idealized versions of her neighbors, a beautiful garden built in her image, and delicious food. Coraline begins to prefer the Other World to her real one, finding that her Other Parents give all the the love and attention she lacks at home. Eventually, the Other Mother offers to let Coraline stay in their world forever, on one condition:

* ParentsInDistress: [[spoiler:Coraline's parents are kidnapped by the Other Mother, and she has to return to the Other World one last time and challenge the Other Mother in order to save them.]]

* PoweredByAForsakenChild: To sustain her life, the Beldam must [[spoiler:consume all the love out of a child's soul after [[EyeScream sewing buttons over their eyes]].]] [[spoiler:The various zones of the Other World and their assigned guardians also seem to be this, as, after Coraline takes back the stolen eyes, the areas and their guardians freeze and become completely grayed out. When all of the eyes are taken back, they collapse further, and the only zone and guardian left existing are the Other Mother and the Other Pink Palace.]]

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: [[spoiler:The Other Mother holds up a button and thread and snarls "Now you're going to stay here forever," to which Coraline shouts "No, I'm not!" and throws the Cat at the Other Mother.]]

* PunchClockVillain: [[spoiler: The Other Wybie and the Other Father. Neither want to be part of the Other Mother's schemes, but they have no choice.]]

* RageAgainstTheReflection: Coraline breaks a mirror when [[spoiler: she sees a vision of her captive parents inside.]]

* AdaptationalTimespanChange: In the book, the first visit to the Other World covers most of its highlights and include's the Other Mother's proposal for Coraline to stay. The film, with its greater length, extends the establishment of the Other World across multiple visits interspersed with the real world's counterparts being established in between, leaving the proposal to stay as a more pronounced midway turning point for the story.

[[MoodWhiplash She has to have buttons sewn into her eyes.]]

* NiceHat: Coraline's Japanese academy cap.

** Not many viewers will know [[spoiler:why the ghost children call the other mother "the beldam", and will probably figure it was the name for whatever monster she was]]. Thank god for Creator/JohnKeats and Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

'''Coraline:''' ''Oh'' my god.

TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'', adapted and directed Creator/HenrySelick (of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' and ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' fame). It was released on February 6, 2009 and it's the first StopMotion movie filmed with a 3-D camera (however, the 3-D viewings were in limited locations for a few weeks).

Coraline Jones moves from Pontiac, Michigan with her mother and father to the Pink Palace Apartments in Ashland, Oregon - an old house subdivided into three residences. With her parents frantically working on a gardening catalog in order to make ends meet, and thus not paying much attention to her, Coraline begins to feel neglected. While exploring the house, she discovers a small door with a brick wall behind it. That night, she is awoken by a mouse in her room, which she chases to the small door. She opens it, but instead of a brick wall, she finds a long, glowing passage, leading to another world.

At the other end, Coraline finds herself in the "Other World", which is inhabited by her "Other Mother" and "Other Father", idealized doubles of her parents (except for the black buttons sewn into their eyes) who pay close attention to Coraline. After enjoying a home-cooked meal made by the Other Mother, she spends the night in the Other World and awakens back in her bed in the real world.

Coraline continues to go to the Other World at night and is entertained by the various delights present, including idealized versions of her neighbors, a beautiful garden built in her image, and delicious food. Coraline begins to prefer the Other World to her real one, finding that she is receiving the love and attention from her other parents she is lacking at home. Eventually, the Other Mother offers to let Coraline stay in their world forever, on one condition:

[[MoodWhiplash She has buttons sewn into her eyes.]]

When she refuses, things quickly take a dark turn as the Other Mother attempts to force Coraline to stay in her world, and Coraline must rely on her bravery and wits to get back home.

* AbominableAuditorium: The Other World has its own theater run by the Other Miss Spink and the Other Miss Forcible; it seems a little bit on the grotesque side at first, given that the audience is composed entirely of dogs, while the only two performers are two old ladies performing a BawdySong and getting into a fight onstage - up until the Other Spink and Forcible unzip their skins and reveal their beautiful true selves in an impressive display of acrobatics. [[spoiler: It's actually yet another one of the Other Mother's attempts to lure Coraline to her death; in the finale, as the glamour surrounding the other world breaks down, the theater becomes a haunting ruin where the audience has become a menacing flock of bat-dogs, while Other Spink and Forcible have been merged into a nightmarish taffy-like fusion.]]

* AdaptationDyeJob: Literally. In the book, Coraline has brown hair. In the film, her hair is blue, but a picture of Coraline when she was younger has brown hair, implying it's dyed in-universe, which seems consistent with her fashion sense.
* AdaptationExpansion: Gaiman himself requested this trope. He saw that the original script was almost exactly like the book and told them to make some changes. After all, if someone wanted something ''exactly'' like the book, they had the book.
** The Other World is introduced more slowly across multiple visits before the creepiness kicks in. In the book, most of the Other World is covered in Coraline's first visit, and the buttons proposal is made at the end of that first visit.
** The garden was utterly insignificant to the book. It's been promoted to a wonder of the Other World here, and also to a guarded spot for the Other Father later. In the book, the Other Father is closed off and is a dead end for the hunt.
** The new character of Wybie is there to help explain some of the backstory of the place, and later give Coraline a person to express her thoughts to and not have her talking to herself.
** The [[CreepyDoll Coraline doll]] is shown to be a tool of the Other Mother who uses it to stalk her victims. The beginning even shows her repurposing the previous design to make it in Coraline's form.

** It's mentioned that the Other Mother can only shape existing materials in the book, but the movie makes this more apparent, with the denizens of the Other World gaining connections to their real counterparts by what they turn into, and slowly deteriorating into those forms.

** The book implied that the door led to an empty apartment which was bricked off, and the last third included scenes in the Other bedroom and the cellar, accessed by the Other empty apartment. None of these points are in the last third of the film, as the garden replaces the bedroom and cellar in one.
** The tunnel passageway Coraline traverses each time into the Other World has a presence in the book. It is something that Coraline suspects is far older and more dangerous than the Other Mother, and so cannot control. This isn't mentioned in the movie but for a mention that Other Mother didn't make the passageway herself.
* AdvertisingByAssociation: Was promoted as "From the director of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''", leading many people believe that the movie is by Creator/TimBurton. Actually, it's Henry Selick who directed both movies, and Burton was only the producer of ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' and had no involvement in ''Coraline''.
* TheAlcoholic: Coraline's mother gives this as the reason for Mr. Bobinsky's eccentricity, which Coraline denies, though it's never made clear. He's never shown drinking.
* AlwaysNight: The Other World is like this here, whereas it reflected the real world in the book.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Wybie is a light-skinned African-American with brown curly hair. It's possible he's actually mixed-race; his grandmother is more obviously black. In a deleted scene Coraline asks Wybie if his grandmother is black, which Wybie confirms.
* AnachronismStew: The film is apparently set in present day, as shown by the car and Coraline's mother's laptop. However, her father works on a computer that seems to come from the '80s.

* ArachnidAppearanceAndAttire: The Other Mother near the end looks increasingly spider-like near the end. The last of the Other World even turns into a web filled with "insects"!
* ArcSymbol: A thin and bony hand, which appears not merely in the opening, but briefly appears in a flash of lightning during Coraline's first trip to the Other Mother's world and then appears in Coraline's tea leaves the day after.
* ArcWords: The Other Mother uses the word "pumpkin" several times when referring to the Other Father.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: Happens at the end when Coraline releases the souls of the ghost children and they go to some kind of heavenly afterlife.]]
* BadSamaritan: Other Mother spies on unhappy children and lures them into the Other World where she showers them with their greatest desires, but is a trap where she ultimately eats them.

* BawdySong: The "Sirens of the Sea" segment is essentially a "tits vs. ass" song with each "siren" extolling the virtues of said body parts in seducing men. And it's sung by [[FanDisservice half-naked old women]], one of whom having a pair of [[GagBoobs ridiculously massive breasts]]. Coraline's response sums up how the parents must have been feeling when they saw this.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The main moral of the story.
* BeneathTheMask: Horribly shown with The Other Mother after we discover the real reason she invited Coraline to her world.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: The last touch of whimsy we see in the Other World is the Other Mother's transformation of the living room, with insect decor and living bug furniture. WordOfGod[[invoked]] is that this is a misguided extrapolation of Coraline's dragonfly hair clips, which the Other Mother takes as "bug enthusiast".
* BigDamnHeroes: Wybie triumphantly arrives just in time to rescue Coraline from the Other Mother, though he crashes his bike and ultimate must work with Coraline to finally defeat her.

** Coraline when she loses the green stone to the rats and then the balcony she's on collapses.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:The Other Mother looks like the perfect mom, but is also a {{Yandere}} psychopath who collects and manipulates children.]]
* BittersweetEnding: For Wybie's grandmother at least. [[spoiler:Her twin sister still died and has moved onto the afterlife thanks to Coraline freeing her soul. But it's implied that Coraline and Wybie will tell her what happened with the Other Door and the Other Mother starving, so she'll live with the peace that the children are safe and her sister was avenged. She ends the movie gardening with Coraline and the neighbors, showing she'll be less of a recluse]].
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Well, more like Black and really-light/almost white gray morality. Coraline begins as a grouchy girl frustrated with moving and her constantly busy parents, but gets better as the movie goes on. Her parents mean well but are tired and constantly overworked, Wybie is a good friend but socially awkward, and the neighbors are quirky, but overall good people. Even some of the Other Worlders are mostly good. Other Father and Other Wybie legitimately like and care for Coraline and help her, [[spoiler: but are ultimately done in by Other Mother, the only truly evil character of the movie]].
* BlackAndNerdy: Wybie is a lighter-skinned geeky black kid who is constantly bullied by Coraline.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler: This happens to the creations of the Other Mother once the Other World turns dark. It's a bit more surreal here than in the book[[note]]For example, the Other Father becomes a pumpkin rather than a grub-like blob, and the Other Spink and Forcible are melted together like the book, but this is because they turn into taffy[[/note]], but no less frightening.]]
* BondVillainStupidity: [[spoiler: After she's been trapped in the Other World, Coraline tricks the Other Mother to open the door back to the real world (under the pretense that her parents have been hidden there) to create an escape route. Since the Other Mother spends some time gloating about Coraline being stupid, Coraline is able to think quickly and distract her, escaping through the still-open door back to home.]]
* {{Bookends}}: The film begins and ends with a very similar pan over the Pink Palace apartment house.

** The bowl of candy owned by Miss April Spink and Miss Miriam Forcible. [[spoiler: It's later used to Coraline's advantage when she has to help the Ghost Children, save her parents and stop the Beldam.]]
** Overlapping with BookEnds, Coraline's first interaction with her mom has her accusing her of hating dirt [[{{Hypocrisy}} despite writing about gardening]]. [[spoiler: Their last interaction in the movie has the Mom admit her admit her daughter (and herself) that she was right about her aversion to dirt.]]

* CanonForeigner: Wybourne "Wybie" Lovat was added to the film so that understanding Coraline's thoughts would be easier. A Mr. Lovat is briefly mentioned towards the end of the book, however, as a former tenant of the Pink Palace, so the family name likely came from that.
* CatsAreMagic: The black cat, who can talk in the Other Mother's universe and acts as a sort of {{Mentor}} towards Coraline.
* CatsAreSnarkers: Again, the black cat. (Voiced by Keith David in all his glory.)
* CatsAreSuperior: Bingo, black cat. Snarky, deadpan, aloof, insulting, arrogant - but willing to help in Coraline's time of need and vital to her confrontation with the Other Mother.
* CerebusCallBack: In the third act, when the Other Mother is done trying to entice Coraline with the Other World, the previously enchanting and friendly sights and people turn twisted and threatening as they devolve into the materials from which they were created.
* ChangedMyMindKid: Wybie returns to help Coraline get rid of the Black Key after dismissing her as crazy earlier.

* CharacterExaggeration: In the book, Mr. Bobo simply happens to be Slavic (Russia isn't even mentioned, actually); it's not even implied that he has an accent until Misses Spink and Forcible happen to talk about him near the end of the book. However, the movie makes Bobinsky [[FunnyForeigner extremely weird and extremely Russian]].

** The control knob on the mantis-mobile, the circus ball the mice use, and the pearl on the Other Forcible's ring. [[spoiler: Each contains the eyes of three victims of the Other Mother, which need to be taken back for them to have a happy afterlife.]]

** Coraline's hat and garden shears. [[spoiler:She uses the shears to cut herself loose from attacking flowers in the final act, and takes out a swarm of bugs stealing her seeing stone by throwing her hat.]]
** The snow globes on the Jones' mantelpiece. [[spoiler: The Other Mother later hides the parents in the Other copy of their favorite snow globe.]]

** The Other Father's piano. As he mentions, he only needs to wear the mechanical gloves and it "plays him". [[spoiler: At the end, he's been hooked up to the mantis vehicle, being forced to use it to attack by the mechanical gloves which are now attached to it.]]
** Wybie has a pair of tongs which he uses to hunt for banana slugs, and later uses them [[spoiler: in the final encounter to snatch up the Other Mother's hand and take it off of Coraline.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: The cat starts out in a very minor role and only talks cat, but once he shows up in the Other World where he can speak, he becomes one of the most important characters.
* ChessWithDeath: [[spoiler:Coraline searching for ghost children's hidden eyes and for her parents in exchange for everyone being released vs. staying with Other Mother if she fails.]]
* ChildEater: [[spoiler:The Other Mother. It's how the ghost children died, and what would have happened to Coraline if she'd not escaped the room the Other Mother locked her in after disobeying her.]]

** Bobinsky when he first meets Coraline tells her that the mice have warned for her "not to go into little door," and they called her "Coraline" rather than "Caroline" as most of the adults have said. Coraline only realizes the reason for the warning when the Other Mother won't let her leave.
** Coraline asks Wybie what made him change his mind when he didn't believe her earlier, when she explained about the Other Mother, and the Cat. ''[[TimmyInAWell The Cat went to him to get help.]]''
* ColorMotifs: The real world is rather dreary in contrast to the much more vibrant Other World. Once the illusion falls apart, the color begins to drain from the Other World and the real world becomes a bit more bright once Coraline realizes what her true home is.
* CobwebOfDisuse: These appear in the Other Mother's workshop seen in the opening credits, implying the length of time since her last activity...[[spoiler: and how long she can go without feeding.]]

* ConspicuousGloves: Wybie (and the Other Wybie). In Real Wybie's case, it may be down to the fact he's seen riding a bike most of the time. That and there's a poison oak bush near the Pink Palace. Later in the film Other Wybie removes his glove to show Coraline he's just sawdust.
* CordonBleughChef: Coraline's father cooks and the first night, he serves a sloppy serving of steamed vegetables. Also, Coraline's mother suggests they make a ketchup-mustard-salsa wrap for lunch before she buys rotten groceries.
* CostumePorn: Amazing costume design choices. With miniatures, no less.
* CrapSaccharineWorld: The Other World. At first glance, it seems to be a dream world that's preferable to the real world, [[spoiler:but once The Other Mother's magic starts wearing off, it starts becoming a nightmare world.]]

* CrazyCatLady: Miss Spink and Miss Forcible are a variation: they have lots of Scottish terriers who live with them. In fact, they love them so much that when they die, they have them ''stuffed'', decorate them with angel costumes, and hang them from the ceiling. The Other Mother replicates this by having a huge audience of Scottish terriers for the Other Spink and Other Forcible's show. [[spoiler: The "angel" element is reflected by having the dogs sprout bat wings when Coraline goes to recover the ghost eye hidden in the theater.]]

** [[spoiler:The Ghost Children. Especially the one with her mouth frozen open in an expression of perpetual horror. Although they're actually quite nice.]]
** The other Wybie usually has a perpetual smile frozen on his face, which is more creepy when you find out that he's required to smile at all times.
* CreepyChildrenSinging: The bulk of the soundtrack has children singing some melody in nonsense words.
* CreepyCircusMusic: At the end when Coraline visits the Other Bobinsky [[spoiler: to retrieve the eye from him]], the music (not surprisingly) has a faint resemblance to circus music, but in a very creepy tone.

* CreepyLongFingers: Other Mother's final form show her with very skeletal hands, composed of sewing needles rather than actual hands with bones and skin. This is first seen at the opening where she remakes the doll, the only a part of her visible to the audience being her needle-hands.
%%* CuteApproachesCamera: The black cat wakes up Coraline in this fashion, with his face close to the camera.

-->'''Charlie Jones:''' Do you have anymore of that magic mud? Cause I got a case of writer's rash, on my a--

* CuteMute: The Other Wybie is cute and can't talk.
* DangerouslyGarishEnvironment: Downplayed and then inverted. The Other World always is at its most bright and colorful when Coraline is being enticed to stay, but when Coraline struggles and rejects the Other Mother, it becomes increasingly weird and sinister, especially once Coraline's game with the Other Mother starts in earnest. Eventually it starts decaying into grey stone and then a WhiteVoidRoom.
* DarkestHour: Coraline discovers the horrible truth about the Other Mother, but Wybie doesn't believe her, and her parents have disappeared, [[spoiler:having been kidnapped by the Other Mother (or rather, the Beldam)]].
* DarkIsEvil: The Other World is in a constant state of nightfall, which makes things look pretty threatening later on, and the rooms are more dimly-lit in the climax than they were earlier.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The black cat helps Coraline the most while she's in the Other World.
* DarkReprise: ''Alone'' is the sadder version of the song played at the second half of ''Installation''.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: As the Other Mother loses control of the Other World, the different zones become completely grayed out and these eventually collapse into a white void. The Other Mother also loses color, without the red of her earlier outfits and her skin becoming white.
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: For a stop motion animated film, there's huge loads of stunning and masterfully done visuals here and there. Especially in the scenes where [[spoiler:the other world starts to disappear.]]
* DiedHappilyEverAfter: After [[spoiler:Coraline retrieves the eyes of the kids the Other Mother ate, they are freed from the Other World, and she later visits them in heaven]]. Although, granted, by this time they were already dead.
* DoubleEntendre: When at the family dinner table, The Other Father makes a joke about the food to The Other Mother during prayers.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: The Other Mother is shown to do this a few times to add to the sense of otherworldy unease, and to show that she's not really as in touch with Coraline as she seems to be. For example, when Coraline asks her real mother if she could go outside, saying she doesn't mind the rain, the Other Mother misinterprets her indifference to the weather as a passion for rain, and suggests playing hide-and-seek in a thunderstorm. This is also shown by how inappropriate the Other Spink and Forcible's performance is, and the living room's transformation (see BigCreepyCrawlies above).
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Coraline goes through a lot, but in the end, she thwarts the Beldam, rescues her parents and frees the souls of the Ghost Children. The Other World door is locked and the key is thrown down the old well, meaning the Beldam won't be able to prey on any future victims. Finally, her parents also complete their project, meaning they are able to spend a lot more time with her.

** When reading the tea leaves, Miss Spink sees a "very peculiar hand" crawling around, and indeed, [[spoiler: peculiar hands are a feature of the Other Mother, and one of them detaches and causes problems for Coraline later]]. Miss Forcible sees a giraffe, which is less relevant, to be sure, but one of the toys in the Other bedroom is part giraffe.
** When giving Coraline the stone, Miss Spink says it's for "bad things", and Miss Forcible says it's for "lost things". Forcible is closer, as it is able to highlight the [[spoiler: hidden ghost eyes]] when looked through, but by that point, the entire situation is "bad things", so Spink isn't entirely wrong.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Coraline may be less than happy with her boring family. And yet, [[spoiler: she would gladly take them over sewing buttons over her eyes.]]

* ExactWords: The Other Mother offers Coraline a chance to stay in the Other World forever. [[spoiler: We see three children who were given that chance before. They are ghosts now, having been killed by the Other Mother and stuck haunting the Other World for seeming eternity.]]
* EyelessFace: [[spoiler:The Other Mother at the end, after the buttons are clawed from her eye sockets.]]

** "Black is traditional... But if you'd prefer pink... or vermilion... or chartreuse... Though you might make me jealous!" The fact that there's a needle next to the buttons makes it that much worse...

* FacialHorror: While button eyes are traditionally a more quirky or off-beat style for a doll, they're exploited for horror here, as they're the symbol of the Other Mother's control and the process of getting the eyes is treated as horrific in-universe.
%%* TheFairFolk: The Other Mother, just human enough to know she's a mystery.
* FalseUtopia: The Other World looks like an idealized, magical copy of the real world where there is endless enjoyment and attention and anything you dream of can come true...[[spoiler: but to stay forever, you must have buttons sewn into your eyes, and you will be devoured and forgotten by the being calling herself your "other mother".]]

** The beginning half of the other Spink and Forcible's stage play... ugh. Both of the old women are practically naked, with only their nipples and crotch covered up. No amount of BrainBleach will ever clear that out of your mind.
** Also, when the [[spoiler:Other Mother transforms, her shirt becomes very low-cut, but since she's so hideous and emaciated with her ribs exposed, you don't want to see it.]]
* FanService: When the other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible transform into their younger selves, they are young, skinny attractive women doing a trapeze act.

* FireForgedFriends: [[spoiler:Coraline and Wybie bond by fighting the Other Mother's detached but animate hand.]]
* FisherKing: During Coraline's first visit to the Other World, the Other Mother suggests having fun playing in the rain; when Coraline points out that there's no rain to speak of, lightning flashes in the next instant and suddenly it's pouring like a hastily edited-in detail. [[spoiler:The Other Mother is later established to be the DomainHolder of the Other World; during Coraline's second visit, the Other Father surreptitiously suggests that the Other Mother is giving energy to the world as well as shape--"Her strength is our strength."--but the piano shushes him before he can go on]].
* FoodPorn: The dinner/breakfast/food scenes in the other world, despite the fact that the foods are fake.

** The first thing the Other Mother says when she meets Coraline the first is that she's "just in time for supper". [[spoiler: She means that for herself, as she plans to devour Coraline's essence. It's also implied that Coraline is a bit overdue on the Other Mother's feeding schedule, indeed making her arrival timely for the Other Mother.]]
** The words in the Other Father's song become much more sinister and foreboding once you find out [[spoiler:they want to put buttons in her eyes.]] It very vaguely regains its happiness [[spoiler:when you realize it was a warning to Coraline of what was coming to her. Didn't go through, but hey, he can say he tried...]]
** The Other Mother refers to her husband as "Pumpkin". [[spoiler: He turns into a pumpkin-like beast in the last act. It's most likely that the Other Father was originally a pumpkin from the garden that gradually reverted back to its true form as the world started to unravel; most other creations of the Other Mother end up seeming to have been appropriated from various flotsam like the rats and bugs.]]

** The lightning strike that takes place during the first dinner scene [[spoiler:takes the form of a hand, specifically the needle-like hands from the doll-making scene at the start. The lightning strike only takes place after Coraline points out there's no rain to speak of after the Other Mother mentions it, signifying the control she has over the Other World.]]
** In the Other House's dining room there's three frames, each with the silhouette portrait of a child in them. [[spoiler: These are the three children who were lured in and killed by the Other Mother before, now seen as ghosts.]]
** When Coraline and Wybie are outside the Pink Palace talking about Mrs. Lovat's missing twin sister, the doll was spotted by the Cat on Coraline's window, seeming to spy on them and the Cat was suspicious, hinting that something was wrong with it. It was later revealed that the doll was used by the Other Mother to spy on Coraline and the other children as well.
** Mrs. Jones mentions finding some "rat crap" near the door before locking it. But Coraline insists they are "jumping mice." [[spoiler:As the Cat reveals, the jumping mice actually were rats.]]
** Very subtle, but the Other Spink and Forcible's highwire act is performed to the famous "Can-Can" song. For those in the know, that piece is from the operetta "Orpheus in the Underworld", based on a Greek myth about [[spoiler:a young man who crosses into the underworld to plead with its ruler for the life of a loved one.]]
** One of the Ghost Children says, as Coraline is collecting their eyes, "[[spoiler:Hurry girl, her web is unwinding!]]"
** The tea leaves. Ms. Spink warns Coraline to be careful [[spoiler: because she sees a hand]]. Meanwhile Ms. Forcible sees a giraffe and sees it as a good sign. However, it may also be a foreshadowing, considering that she calls it a "tall, handsome beast". [[spoiler: The Other Mother is handsome in the beginning, and becomes more and more tall and ugly by the end]].
** "This piano... plays me." [[spoiler: It's later used to censor the Other Father's discussion, and later still, to force him to fight Coraline against his will.]] Like the song, this is one way he tries to subtly warn Coraline about the situation.

** During Coraline's first visit to Other World, after she asks "What rain?" lightning flashes in a shape that branches to form a nightmarish hand.
** The other Spink and Forcible do the "What A Piece Of Work Is Man" monologue. [[spoiler:''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' was a tragedy.]]
** The Other Mother telling Coraline [[spoiler:"It's all made up" (for her)]] on her first visit. [[spoiler:The Other World certainly seems to be all made-up.]]

** At the end of Coraline's second visit to the Other World, as she falls asleep, the Other Mother hushes the silent Other Father. [[spoiler: While it seems like a cute "shh, she's trying to sleep" moment, it turns out that the Other Father has already subverted the Other Mother's influence by that point, having dropped hints to Coraline in his song. She's not being a sweet parent, she's trying to reassert her control over a problematic lackey...correctly, as the Other Father turns out to defy her further, to his own destruction.]]
** The words on Coraline's "Welcome Home" cake from the Other Mother contain [[spoiler: what's been described by handwriting experts as a "liar's O", where the cursive O has an irregular loop inside it, something that often emerges in cases of written deceit. The liar's O itself is in the word "home" here, foreshadowing that the Other World is a lie and not what it seems to be.]]
* ForeignSoundingGibberish: The general consensus as to exactly what they are saying in choral numbers like ''[[https://youtu.be/gxs2vS2gJ-c Exploration]]'' and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71K9-1Jwxfk Mechanical Lullaby]]'', and of course the [[https://youtu.be/J8ry1f_3Lsk end credits song]].
** Closed captions just call it "Child/Children singing nonsense words".
* FriendlyTickleTorture: About 1/2 way into the movie, when Coraline enters the Garden made by her Other Mother. She gets playfully "attacked" by a bunch of living Snapdragons that get [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath beheaded]] shortly after by Other Father.

-->*As Miss Forcible turns*\\

* GameFace: The Other Mother lets her appearance slip when Coraline resists her, likely giving up the facade because she realizes it won't work anymore.
* GardenOfEvil: The previously magical garden in the the Other World [[spoiler:quickly turns hostile when Coraline goes there to find the Ghost Childrens' eyes]].

* GiantSpider: [[spoiler:The Other Mother's "true" form ends up evoking this.]]

* GlamourFailure: The black button eyes, of course, but as Coraline continues to get to know the Other World, the harder it is for the Other Mother to hide its true nature.
* GlasgowSmile: Played with. The Other Mother freezes Other Wybie's face into a perpetual smile when [[spoiler:she takes away his voice]], and later sews it into an even more hideous smile. The doll she uses is a straight example, as the mouth is slit open to remove the stuffing each time she remakes the doll.

** The Other Father. Even though [[PeoplePuppets he's a slave to the Other Mother's will]], there are clearly moments early on when he's using whatever limited freedom he has to help and ''warn'' Coraline. His piano song is trying to drop hints that the Other Mother is constantly watching her. When Coraline rejects having buttons sown into her eyes, the Other Father is ''smirking'' at the Other Mother's failure. Then he goes the extra mile trying to demonstrate how [[EyeScream "not painful"]] the process is, [[SilenceYouFool only to receive a sharp kick from the Other Mother]]. This is justified because unlike the other adults who were made to entertain Coraline, Other Father is made help Coraline not feel neglected or ignored by her father, like she was perceiving at this moment, and so, like a real father, he comes to love her unconditionally. A consequence of that love is a protective desire he feels and acts on in subtle ways.
** Other Wybie is similarly good and protective of Coraline. While Other Father is meant to be a loving father, Other Wybie's good nature can be explained in that the Other Mother created him for one purpose; to please Coraline. What did she want most? [[TrueCompanions friends who would be fun to hang with and not weird]], unlike first impression of Wybie left her with. Therefore, the Other Mother created him to [[ExactWords be Coraline's close friend unconditionally]]. Unfortunately for her, this [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfired]] horribly. Unfortunately for him, the Other Mother [[YouHaveFailedMe doesn't take kindly to insubordination]].
* GroinAttack: Narrowly averted when Mr. Bobinsky jumps off his deck and almost lands on Coraline, with his crotch coming within inches of the pair of garden trimmers she had in her hand.
* HarmfulToMinors: Averted. Coraline gets over her inital shock at the Other Spink and Forcible's rather lewd play, and begins to enjoy it.

** [[spoiler:The Other Wybie qualifies as well. He endures having a smile sewn into his face for defying the Other Mother's command to smile, and still decides to help Coraline, rescuing her from the mirror and getting her into the blocked passage back to the real world, knowing that the Other Mother would kill him for it.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Other Mother creates alternate versions of Coraline's father and neighbor kid to be friendly and supportive and care about her. [[GoneHorriblyRight This leads to them defying her and sacrificing their existence for Coraline's sake]].
* HopeSpot: Coraline reluctantly goes back to the Other World to [[spoiler:save her parents. She then sees her mother poking out through the door, neck brace and all. Coraline is so happy and relieved that she runs into her mother's arms. It turns out to be the Other Mother, who proceeds to confiscate the key to the Other Door while taking off her disguise happily]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: The Other Mother cheats like ''crazy'' and wouldn't have let Coraline go whether she'd won the game or not, but is ''furious'' when Coraline [[spoiler: throws the cat at her to turn the tables; "You horrible, cheating girl!!!"]]

* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: [[spoiler:The Other Father, passing on the first ghost eye.]]

* ImprovisedWeapon: Our heroine [[spoiler:takes down the villain with a live cat]]. By throwing it as hard as she can. Yikes.
* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: {{Inverted}}: it's been advertised as being "from Henry Selick, the director of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''", which most people associate with its producer, Creator/TimBurton.
** This was actually a later addition as early ads only billed it as "from the director of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''" most likely in the hopes that people who only know Nightmare as being a Tim Burton film would assume he directed it.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Coraline seems to develop this with her neighbors at the Pink Palace Apartments.

** Coraline states that even though her parents write gardening catalogues, her mother ''hates'' dirt.
** The deterioration of the Other World reveals that some of its denizens' starting points were objects positively connected to their real world basis, like the Other Spink and Forcible becoming the taffy offered to Coraline, and the other Bobinsky becoming a swarm of vicious rodents, which seem to be a benevolent force to the the real Mr. B, and who, according to him, are concerned for Coraline's safety. Even the Other Father, who becomes a pumpkin, might be based on the real father's horrible cooking done out of love.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Almost everyone in the real world.

* KnowYourVines: The title character brushes some leaves off a stick and uses it as a water rod. She meets Wybie, and has a fairly long conversation with him, and at the end he throws in that the stick she's holding is poison oak. We even see a rash on her hands afterwards, which then becomes a plot point.

** "Mechanical Lullaby" for the Other world in general. The Other Mother even hums it.

** Wybie has two.
* LighterAndSofter: They actually toned down the creepiness from the book, believe it or not, yet some very different forms of new creepiness were added. So it depends.
* LikeParentLikeSpouse: Notice how Coraline punches Wybie on the shoulder at the end. It's the same way Mel punched Charlie's shoulder earlier. Let the [[ShipTease shipping]] commence!
** Plus, if you count how both couples have similar personality traits.
* LipstickLesbian: Spink and Forcible. (Their relationship isn't explicit in the story, [[WordOfGay but Gaiman confirmed it on his tumblr]].)
* LittleMissSnarker: Coraline.
* LockAndLoadMontage: There is a short one when Coraline prepares to enter the Other World to find her parents.

* MacGuffin: The eyes of the ghost children.

* MiniMe: The doll that Coraline receives early on looks a lot like her, which she nicknames "Little Me". [[spoiler: It turns out that the Other Mother uses the doll's eyes to spy on Coraline, and she remakes the doll to look like each of her next victims.]]
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: The Other Wybie and later on [[spoiler:the Other Father.]]

** Zigzagged for Mr. Bobinski. He behaves very erratically, and characters speculate as to why, with their hypotheses ranging from him being insane to him being [[TheAlcoholic always drunk]]. We never find out the truth, though Coraline eventually believes he's simply eccentric.
** When Coraline tells Wybie about the Other Mother and the fact that the doll is being used for spying, Wybie [[CassandraTruth doesn't believe this]] and believes that she's lost it.
* MonochromeApparition: The ghost children are of pale blueish color.
* MoodWhiplash: The film is famous for transitioning from fantasy to horror at the halfway point, when the true intentions of the Other Mother are revealed.
* MortonsFork: According to the ghost children, the Beldam won't let Coraline go even if she wins the game.
* {{Motif}}: Buttons, spiders, and the Other Mother's hand are prominent images in the film. Much more subtly is the mirror, which appears in a scene that marks the significant tonal and plot reversal halfway through the movie, and brings to mind the idea of reflections being familiar yet inaccurate, like the Other World itself.

* MysteriousAnimalSenses: The Cat is able to communicate to the Other Wybie, even though the Other Wybie was created mute. The Cat even tells Coraline that cats have far superior senses to humans, at which Coraline immediately rolls her eyes. There's also his ability to go between worlds on his own, which is pretty impressive.

* NeverTrustATrailer: Many people thought that the movie looked too "cutesy", judging by the trailer. Oh, how wrong they were.
* NiceHat: Coraline's Japanese Academy Cap.

** The Other Mother kills [[spoiler:Other-Wybie and punishes the Other-Father, the only residents who were genuinely kind to Coraline. Coraline on seeing both of them swears vengeance on the witch and doesn't hold back when tossing the cat in her face]].
** When Coraline begins her quest to find the Ghost Children's eyes, the Other Mother has insect minions try to steal the adder stone that Miss Spink and Miss Forcible gave her. Coraline fights them off and wonders why they were so determined to take it--and then she holds it up to her face and discovers that it can both see through the Other World's illusions ''and'' illuminate the glowing ghost eyes. Had the Other Mother not drawn attention to the stone in the first place, Coraline wouldn't have learned about its powers--keep in mind that at that point, Coraline didn't even know what the eyes looked like.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[spoiler: The Other Mother's final form resembles a spidery skeleton woman with a face like a porcelain doll, hands made of sewing needles and button eyes. Unfortunately, it's more scary then awesome.]]
* NoNameGiven: We don't know the names of Coraline's friends from Michigan, the Cat, Wybie's grandmother, or [[spoiler:the 3 ghost children]].

** The Other Wybie.
** The cat fills this role as well, especially after Other!Wybie [[spoiler:meets his sad fate.]]
* NonMaliciousMonster: Among the creatures in the Other World, only the Other Mother is actively malicious. The Other Father and the Other Wybie end up entering LoveRedeems mode because they were made to love Coraline and be her friend respectively, while the Other Forcible, Spink and Bobinski are barely sentient due to the fact that their only purpose was to entertain Coraline.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: One of Coraline's toys saying "I wanna hug your face!".
* NoodleIncident: Coraline's mother mentions a car accident that caused the family to move. She's also wearing a neck brace throughout the film, also indicated to be a result of the accident.

** Mr. Bobinsky is a borderline example - he's round and rotund, but with spidery legs.

* NowYouTellMe: While exploring, Coraline flips a switch, only to find a sign telling the reader not to touch the switch. It turned off the electricity to the computer room, destroying her father's work.
* ObjectCeilingCling: The candy bowl at Ms. Spink and Ms. Forcible's apartment.

** When it's revealed that Wybie's grandmother kept the doll for about fifty years [[spoiler:after her sister died, which meant she kept it from spying on other potential child victims. Not to mention that she also refused to rent out apartments in the Pink Palace, where the entrance to the Other world is, to tenants with children. She managed to protect her grandson in this fashion as well, so that the Other Mother by the end is starving and Coraline was her last hope]].
** From a purely visual sense, the Other Mother's second transformation, which was probably too hard to transition even conceptually, let alone with stop-motion.

* OminousMusicBoxTune: When Coraline visits the Other Spink and Forcible's theatre the second time.
* OminousLatinChanting: More like ominous gibberish chanting. Most notable at the end credits.
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Over the course of the movie the Other Mother progressively gets more monstrous. She starts as a copy of Coraline's real mother, then gets [[LeanAndMean thinner, spindlier and overall wicked-looking]]. By the end of the movie she reveals her true form - a spindly spider-human hybrid with [[CreepyDoll cracked porcelain skin]], metal legs and hands with claws made of sewing needles.]]
** ClippedWingAngel: Coraline's final confrontation in the film isn't with Other Mother herself, but her [[OrganAutonomy severed hand]], which fights her to get the key back.

* OurSirensAreDifferent: The BawdySong Other Miss Spink and Other Miss Forcible sing, while dressed as sirens and the birth of Venus.
* PaddleballShot: Quite a few shots are used to take advantage of the 3D. For instance, the shot of the paper mice coming out of the brick wall, and the hands coming out of the piano.
* PaperThinDisguise: Deconstructed. While the Other Mother looks like a doppelganger of Coraline's mother, it's shown that it's not her real form and Coraline can tell the difference between the two. She at first is creeped out by the uncanny resemblance, including the button eyes. Eventually, she realizes that the Other Mother can't create, only copy what's real, and the disguise falls into that. [[spoiler:One subversion is when she poses as Coraline's mother to lure her into a trap, hiding her button eyes and wearing a neck brace]].

* ParentsInDistress: [[spoiler:Coraline's parents are kidnapped by the Other Mother and she has to return to the Other World one last time and challenge the Other Mother in order to save them.]]

* PoweredByAForsakenChild: To sustain her life, the Beldam must [[spoiler:consume all the love out of a child's soul after [[EyeScream sewing buttons over their eyes]].]] [[spoiler:The zones of the Other World and their assigned guardians also seem to be this, as, after Coraline takes back the stolen eyes, the areas and their guardians freeze and become completely grayed out. When all of the eyes are taken back, they collapse further and the only zone and guardian left existing are the Other Mother and the Other Pink Palace.]]
* PowerTrio: Coraline, Wybie and the Cat form one.

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: [[spoiler:Coraline shouts "No, I'm not!" just before throwing the Cat at the Other Mother.]]
* ProtagonistTitle: The movie (like the book) is named after the protagonist.
* PunchClockVillain: [[spoiler: The Other Wybie and the Other Father.]]

* PunnyName: Wybie's real name, "Wybourne", leads to Coraline occasionally calling him "Why-were-you-born?"

* RealIsBrown: The colors of the real world are incredibly dull and jaded, which is to contrast the other world's vibrant and cheery colors.
* RedOniBlueOni: Funnily enough, Coraline herself embodies both onis in different mediums: British book!Coraline is more stoic, mature and cerebral while American Movie!Coraline is more belligerent and snarky.

* RefugeInAudacity: The theater scene, the proof that Henry Selick knows children better than anyone else in Hollywood.
* RegularlyScheduledEvil: [[spoiler: The Other Mother goes dormant for long periods between enchanting and devouring her young victims, as evidenced by the time gaps between the ghost children's fashion, the cobwebs in her workshop, and the time since her last victim was taken, which was when old Ms. Lovat was a young girl of the same age. Mr. Jones dates the Pink Palace at around 150 years old, and since we see three previous victims from that time span, it's implied that the Other Mother operates on a cycle of feeding every fifty years. It's further hinted that the evil is actually running behind schedule this time, given the young age of Ms. Lovat's sister in the last photo taken of her. For Ms. Lovat to be as old as she is in the present, ''more'' than fifty years would have passed since the photo was taken, suggesting that thanks to her efforts, Coraline is overdue and that is why the Other Mother is so desperate.]]
* {{Retraux}}: The entire movie, from the clothing, to the hairstyles, to the gigantic, baby-crushing CRT monitor on Coraline's dad's computer is steeped in TheNineties, which is strange, since the book it was based on came out in 2002.

* RuleOfSymbolism: While Coraline is burning [[spoiler: the doll, the fireplace holds a roaring fire. But as the scene quickly turns quiet, the flames die down, signifying that all of Coraline's anger is spent.]]. Also near the end after Coraline and Wybie defeat the Other Mother's hand in the real world, the full moon is shown being uncovered by two cloud which resemble clawed hands, signifying the end of the Other Mother's threat.

** Coraline goes to the other world several times, and [[spoiler:it is on her third trip that other mother's full intentions are revealed.]]
** She also has to collect [[spoiler:the three missing eyes of the Ghost Children]] and face three challenges to do so.

** There are three wonders in the Other World, and three "acts" guarding them. The Other Father tends and defends the garden, the Other Bobinsky is in charge of the mouse circus, and the interchangeable team of the Other Spink and Forcible are placed in the theater.
* RunningGag: Early in the film, Coraline pointed out whenever something in the Other World didn't match something in the Real World, most notably stating "my mom doesn't have buttons."

* SceneryGorn: [[spoiler:The scenes of the other world disappearing.]]
* SceneryPorn: Like you wouldn't believe. The garden, the mouse circus, and the theater in the other world are breathtaking.

* SecretRoom: Subverted. Coraline finds the outlines of a little door behind a box in the living room, but she cannot open it because it's covered up by wallpaper. Then her mum rips the wallpaper open but the door turns out to be a RealFakeDoor as it's all bricked up behind it, making the other side of the door impossible to get through.
* ShipTease: The interactions between Wybie and Coraline is seen by [[{{Fanon}} the fans as a burgeoning romance]]. He's always trying to hang around her, and Coraline refers to this behavior as "stalking." She also punches him playfully in the arm the way her mother punched her father earlier in the film.
* ShoeSlap: Coraline gets mad at Wybie at one point and throws the heeled boots Other Mother made for her at him while chasing after him in the rain. (In the commentary, the filmmakers note that this would have very different connotations in the middle east.)

** To ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'': The pumpkins in the other mother's garden look like the Mayor of Halloweentown, and the tallest of the three Ghost Children resembles Shock. The cat is the same sort of black, scrawny specimen seen in Halloween Town, and when the Other Mother cracks an egg, the falling yolk is shaped like Jack Skellington's face. Similarly, when Wybie has his facemask/helmet on, he bears a strong resemblance to Barrel. There also might be one to Creator/{{Pixar}}, as one of the Shakespeare players has a baby in a backpack that looks a lot like [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Jack-Jack]].
** The movers at the beginning were the "Ranft Bros.", caricatured after Jerome Ranft and the late Joe Ranft, who worked on ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' and several Pixar films.
** The other father's slippers look an awful lot like Film/{{Monkeybone}}...

** The piano in the other study has the gold word "Tadahiro" on it. Tadahiro Uesugi was a concept artist whom Henry Selick adored and who worked on the film.
** Probably unintentional, but two that sprung out in the movie were the father's name - Charlie Jones, aka "Chuck" Jones, and the "Tall, handsome beast" that Miss Forcible saw in Coraline's tea leaves could have referred to the cat - who's voiced by Creator/KeithDavid, who also provided the voice of Goliath. Then again, both may simply be an EpilepticTrees moment. On the other hand, Keith David himself is a tall, handsome beast.
** Wybie shares the same last name of a runaway black child named Jessie Lovat in ''Literature/AmericanGods'', though the surname is also in the book version of ''Coraline''.
** [[spoiler:When the other world is getting destroyed, it's just white with some black outlined objects. It's very similar to ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''.]]
** Much of the Other Father's creepy Dialogue when [[spoiler: the Other Mother]] isn't around seems similar to Film/{{Psycho}}.
** [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout-Out: To Shakespeare]]: Quite a lot. The poster in the old ladies' apartment reads [[ParallelPornTitles "King Leer"]]. The boy in the uniforms store yelled "My kingdom for a horse!". Several lines from ''Hamlet'' were quoted during the theater scene. And to top it off, Oregon natives will recognize the city the titular character's family moved to as Ashland, Oregon, where the Shakespeare Festival is held annually. A banner for the festival is visible in one scene.
** "What a piece of work is a man; how noble in reason; how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable in action; how like an angel in apprehension; how like a god." Done awesomely. Especially since [[spoiler: they were saying it sarcastically]], though Coraline and unfamiliar viewers wouldn't know it at the time.

-->'''Coraline Jones:''' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis No...I'm...NOT!]] ''(Grabs the cat and throws it at the Other Mother)''
* SirensAreMermaids: During The Other Spink and Forcible's song, The Other Spink describes herself as "The siren of all seven seas" while dressed as a [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaid]].
* SlayingMantis: The Other Mother makes the Other Father's mantis vehicle into one in the third act, using the piano hands to control him. Fitting symbolism, given that female mantises kill their mates.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Wybie's grandmother has a handful of scenes. She also was holding onto the "Little Me" doll that was [[spoiler:the reason her sister went missing. Said doll also was the only way the Other Mother could spy on children so as to feed on them, hence why Wybie's grandmother got frantic on learning that Wybie gave it to Coraline]].
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: A trait of some conversations between Coraline and the cat.
* TheSociopath: The Other Mother must eat life energy to survive, but goes about it in the cruelest way possible. She finds children unhappy with their lives, and creates a world that appears to be anything they want. After a time, she convinces them to sew buttons on their eyes, trapping their ghosts behind a mirror. If they refuse, she drops the mask and imprisons them and their parents until they do. She has an impulsive love of games, but will cheat to win them, and immediately reneges on any deals made if she does lose.
* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Sort of. When Coraline and the cat first have a conversation, Coraline is initially skeptical that the cat is the same one from the real world (as opposed to a copy in the Other World). The cat quickly puts an end to the skepticism, with a casual CallBack to an earlier scene where Coraline referred to the cat as a "Wuss puss."
* SoreLoser: [[spoiler:The Other Mother.]]
* SpannerInTheWorks: Wybie's grandmother, [[spoiler:whose twin sister disappeared without trace when they were both very young, kept the doll resembling her as a TragicKeepsake and also point blank refused to rent apartments in the Pink Palace to families with children. This deprived the Other Mother of her prey and of a way to find suitable victims; if Coraline's family hadn't rented their apartment, the Other Mother might well have starved to death.]]
* TheSpeechless: The other Wybie.
* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'', sharing similar design aesthetics, characters, and situations, but for terror and tragedy instead of comedy.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''. As well as Henry Selick's previous ''Film/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' adaptation. And ''Film/MirrorMask''.
* StepfordSmiler: The Other Mother, and most of the denizens in her realm.

* SwallowTheKey: Done by the Other Mother.

* ThisWasHisTrueForm: When the cat delivers a killing bite to one of the Other Bobinsky's circus mice, it turns into a rat. As the Other World deteriorates, we get to see more of what its denizens came from.

* TickleTorture: Coraline suffers this at the hands of some plants in the Other Father's garden. May have been FriendlyTickleTorture based on the tone at the time.

** One TV spot for the film shows the other mother giving Coraline [[spoiler:the gift box with the buttons meant for her]]. Another TV spot had [[spoiler:the other father being held up by the evil mantis thing and swiping at Coraline, and had the other Wybie's stitched smile]]. A third featured [[spoiler:Bobinski's rat-clothes slithering around.]]
** Although spoilers were to be expected when the HBO Special on ''Coraline'' aired, some of them were a bit too big. Mainly the fact that [[spoiler:the other Wybie dies and has all that's left of him, his clothes, hung like a flag]]. Granted, one of the five Behind the Scenes videos hinted at the possibility of this, but no one expected what actually occurred. It kinda reduced the shock value.
** The Other Mother's second form is on the back of the DVD box. The spoiler status of this could be argued though, as that's how she's described in the book from the beginning, as opposed to starting out as identical to Coraline's real mother.

** It's highly doubtful many of the viewers knew [[spoiler:why the Ghost Children called the other mother "the beldam", and probably figured it was the name for whatever monster she was]]. Thank god for Creator/JohnKeats and Wiki/TheOtherWiki.
** The Fairy Ring of mushrooms around the abandoned well is a huge ChekhovsGun to anyone who knows the appropriate folklore; to everyone else its just added scenery.

** Also, how many viewers recognized the speech the other Spink and Forcible were reciting during their trapeze act? It's from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. And it has especially interesting plot-correlations when you recall that when he originally spoke it in the play, Hamlet was being ''sarcastic''.

* TheWatson: The movie-original character Wybourne "Wybie" Lovat, who gives a reason for Coraline to give the exposition told in the book through narration.
* WeirdMoon: As time wears on through Coraline's hunting game against the Other Mother, the moon is steadily eclipsed, and the shadow has an inner circumferential line and four holes (i.e., the shadow of a button). Coraline seems to take it as a time limit; at one moment the shadow notably (and audibly at that) grinds to a halt when [[spoiler:the final Ghost-Child's eye/soul is won.]]
* WingdingEyes: The Other Mother and all of her living creations have the notable distinction of possessing black buttons for eyes, demonstrating their unnatural and uneasy presence. The Other Mother is even shown to be able to change their color if she wanted to.

** The entirety of the Ghost children's story shows the Beldam's true nature, but this line in particular:

** The scene where Coraline opens the box that will allow her to live with her Other parents forever...and sees the buttons. It's then that it dawns on her what exactly the Other Mother wants her to do...

** Three of them during the trials Coraline has to go through to get the ghost eyes--[[spoiler:the Other Father appearing forcibly strapped to his mantis tractor, the Other Spink and Forcible bursting out of the candy wrapper made of taffy, fused together and a rat appearing inside the Other Mr. B's empty suit.]]
* TheWormThatWalks: The other Bobinsky near the end of the movie.

* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler: The Other Mother.]]
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Coraline should probably explain it to Wybie coherently; throwing shoes at him isn't going to make him believe you. In fairness to her, however, she just narrowly avoided having her eyes poked out by a demonic copy of her mother. Coherency is optional after that.

** It's highly doubtful many of the viewers knew [[spoiler:why the Ghost Children called the other mother "the beldam", and probably figured it was the name for whatever monster she was]]. Thank god for Creator/JohnKeats and Wiki/TheOtherWiki... (which would make [[AGoodNameForARockBand a really good band name]]...)

* AdaptationalLocationChange: The movie takes place in the United States instead of England.

* PleaseDontLeaveMe: As Coraline is desperately crawling through the portal to get back home after blinding the Other Mother, she begins frantically pounding on the door and screams and pleads with Coraline to not go.

* RaincoatOfHorror: One of Coraline's iconic outfits from this horror fairy tale film is a yellow raincoat.
* RapidFireNo: Coraline's father does this when Coraline accidentally shuts off the power to the house while he's working on the computer.

* RealIsBrown: The colors of the real world are incredibly dull and jaded, which is to contrast for the other world's vibrant and cheery colors.
* RedOniBlueOni: Coraline is obviously associated with blue, while the Other Mother is detailed in [[BlackWidow red and black]], much like [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Alice and the Red Queen]].
** Funnily enough, Coraline herself embodies both onis in different mediums: British book!Coraline is more stoic, mature and cerebral while American Movie!Coraline is more belligerent and snarky.

* ShipTease: The interactions between Wybie and Coraline is seen by [[{{Fanon}} the fans as a burgeoning romance]].

--> Coraline: Oh, my twitchy witchy girl/I think you are so nice/I give you bowls of porridge/I give you bowls of ice...cream.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The Other Mother kills [[spoiler:Other-Wybie and punishes the Other-Father, the only residents who were genuinely kind to Coraline. Coraline on seeing both of them swears vengeance on the witch and doesn't hold back when tossing the cat in her face]].

* ArachnidAppearanceAndAttire: The Other Mother near the end. The last of the Other World even turns into a web filled with "insects"!

* BrickJoke: The bowl of candy owned by Miss April Spink and Miss Miriam Forcible. [[spoiler: It's later used to Coraline's advantage when she has to help the Ghost Children, save her parents and stop the Beldam.]]

* FisherKing: During Coraline's first visit to the Other World, the Other Mother suggests having fun playing in the rain; when Coraline points out that there's no rain to speak of, lightning flashes in the next instant and suddenly it's pouring like a hastily edited-in detail. [[spoiler:The Other Mother is later established to be the DomainHolder of the Other World; during Coraline's second visit, the Other Father inadvertently suggests that the Other Mother is giving energy to the world as well as shape--"Her strength is our strength."--but the piano shushes him before he can go on]].

** The tea leaves. Ms. Spink warns Coraline to be careful [[spoiler: because she sees a hand]]. Meanwhile Ms. Forcible sees a giraffe and sees it as a good sign. However it may also be a foreshadowing, considering that she calls it a "tall, handsome beast". [[spoiler: The Other Mother is handsome in the beginning, and becomes more and more tall and ugly by the end]].

** At the end of Coraline's second visit to the Other World, as she falls asleep, the Other Mother hushes the silent Other Father. [[spoiler: While it seems like a cute "shh, she's trying to sleep" moment, it turns out that the Other Father has already subverted the Other Mother's influence by that point, having dropped hints to Coraline in his song. She's not being a sweet parent, she's trying to reassert her control over a problematic lackey, and she's not wrong to do so, as the Other Father turns out to defy her further, to his own destruction.]]

%%* CrazyCatLady: Spink's a dog lady.

* ArtsyMoon: Towards the end of the movie, the other world's moon starts slowly being eclipsed by a button-shaped shadow.

* AdultFear:
** The chilling, very real fear of many working parents is that harm could come to their child because they're too busy to pay attention to them. Coraline's parents aren't purposefully neglecting her, but it is their lack of attentiveness that leads to their daughter getting into some serious trouble...
** Wybie's grandmother [[spoiler:had a twin sister who mysteriously disappeared, and we find out that the sister was killed by the Other Mother. She then spends presumably Wybie's whole life (until the end of the movie) afraid that he's going to wander into the Pink Palace despite her warnings and disappear forever. Then he gives the doll to the newest tenant's daughter, and his grandmother frantically demands that he get it back before it's too late. Poor Grandma...]]